New english site!

From now on I will not be blogging here, but in the english blog at http://www.magnusbetner.com

Update your bookmarks and change the RSS-feed to http://www.magnusbetner.com/category/blog/feed/

Cya there!

That was fun.

Did a gig in english in Stockholm yesterday and although most of the 500 guests spoke swedish I had a lot of fun. Tried some new stuff and got most of my stuff from New York into the act. Did a little over 20 minutes and could have gone a little longer i think.

I think I'm gonna do my stuff in english at RAW this weekend too. After all, the audience is there to see an englishspeaking headliner so i might as well. Hope I'll see you there. There are not many tickets left, but you find 'em at www.ticnet.se

New date. English in Sweden.

I'm gonna be a part of the english comedy night at Syster o Bror near KTH in Stockholm on april 22.

I'm doing 20 minutes and the rest of the lineup is as follows:

James McKie
Alex Lasarev
John Houdi

The entire show will be in english and Marcus Palm is MC.

All the info you might need is on Facebook.

More dates in Stockholm and London will be added soon.

Only 2 gigs left in New York.

In a couple of hours I leave for Pleasantville, NY. Really looking forward to it and I'm bringing my camera, so hopefully I can share the experience here tomorrow. Probably gonna be a big difference from the clubs I've worked in town...

Tomrrow is my very last gig in NYC. That show is gonna be great, so don't miss it if you are in town. The place will be packed, so be there early. Show is hosted by Yannis Pappas, who will also show some Ditch films.

Lineup:
Cory Fernandez
Sean Patton
Greg Barris
Magnus Betnér
Tommy Amado

Starts 8 pm at Building on Bond.
100 Bond Street, corner Bond/Pacific
Brooklyn

They were drunk. Really drunk.

The set at Europa went well although we had to rush from there to The Village Lantern so Yannis missed his set. In retrospect i think he would have rather stayed behind. The audience at our second gig was very, very drunk. And loud... And drunk, did i mention that?

It's rare that you see an audience behaving like that. They really didn't give any of the comics before me a chance to do anything. If it would have been in Sweden I probably would have just walked off the stage, but hey, I'm here for the challenge. Somehow i actually got the two loudest drunks to shut up. Edited what little material I did out of there and kept some 7 minutes of me trying to stop hecklers. I really have no patience with audiences being like that, but somehow i kinda enjoyed it yesterday. Hope you do to.

One more spot tonight.

Also doing a spot at Europa nightclub in Williamsburg. Show starts 8 pm. After that I go over to Village Lantern on Bleecker for a spot there. That show starts at 9 pm.

My barber Gary.

I've always wanted to have my own barber. Not only to cut my hair, but to shave. Now I do. Or at least I've had him the past 2 weeks. One of the many, many things I'm gonna miss about New York is Gary's close shave with the straight razor. (Photo by Helena)

We had a real fun show at Bar 4 yesterday. I ended up not doing the stuff I had planned but doing some stuff i wrote yesterday and a lot of improvisations. Worked really well. Sadly i forgot my camera...

Tonight I'm on at The Village Lantern again. Show starts at 9 pm and The Lantern is located on Bleecker St between Sullivan and Thompson. Drop in!

The last couple of gigs.

Tonight I'm back at Bar Four in Park slope, Brooklyn. Think I'm gonna try some new stuff. It's always a fun show. Stop by if you're in Brooklyn.

Tomorrow, back at the Village Lantern for another show there and after that i might do another spot somewhere. Wednesday I'm going out of town for a gig at Michaels Tavern in Pleasantville. Really looking forward to that!

Then on thursday we top it all of with a farewellgig at Building on Bond. That is one that you do not want to miss.

Hoboken tonight.

Leaving for a cigar at Bar and books in a minute. After that (and most likely a couple of drinks) we are heading for Shades Restaurant in Hoboken. It's a really nice place. I'm doing a short set and Yannis is headlining with a long one, so if you're in town...

Shades restaurant inside the monroe arts center.
720 monroe st hoboken, nj.
Show starts at 9pm.
Doors open at 8.
10 dollar cover charge.

Also got a couple of more spots before leaving New York in a week. Will keep you posted.

We partied like gentlemen.

Yesterday was one of the best nights so far. First we did a show at The Village Lantern and after that we went to Bar and Books and really enjoyed a couple too many cigarrs and drinks. Think i got home at 4.30 in the morning or so... Like a gentleman.

My set went well yesterday so I figured i might as well post all of it, just in case anybody is interested in my progress (or lack off). Most of the stuff I did has been posted before but i think there is some new stuff in there as well.

I might have a spot tonight, but I'm not sure yet. If not I will probably pop by Zinc Bar on w 3d street to have a look at Jordon Ferbers show. If I'm workning somewhere I will try to post it here before i leave.

New dates, New York and London.

Just updated my calendar (at the bottom of this page) with a lot of dates in London. Going there for 5 days in june and a week in october. More will probably be added soon.

Also added a few more gigs here in New York. Tonight I'm at The Village Lantern, saturday at Shades in Hoboken and sunday at Bar 4. And of course, the big farewell-show at Building on Bond april 2nd. Do not miss that one. Do not!

Yesterday i found a new favourite place, just a couple of blocks from here. Bar and books. A place where you can have a nice cigarr and a nice drink in a really, really nice setting. Apart from that fucking music on their webpage, everything is just perfect.

I killed yesterday.

Sadly I didn't get it on tape. The show was way to long. I was way to cold. And when Donnell Rawlings called me Magnum from Australia for the second time in a row, I just lost it. And losing it is apparently good for me. Really sad I didn't film it. The club did though, so I'm gonna see if I can get a copy from them.

For now, I found another subtitled clip about religion. It may seem like religion is all I ever talk about, but I guess thats fine. Other stuff will come soon. This clip is from my last DVD, released 2007. A new one is to be released this spring.

Laugh Lounge tonight.

I tried a lot of new stuff yesterday. Some I will do again and some I will definetly not. Was a fun show. Brooke Van Poppelen did a really nice set.

Tonight I'm gonna be back at Laugh Lounge on lower east side. It's a really nice room and It's worth going for host Donnell Rawlings alone. So do.

Starts 8.30. Tickets and info:

http://www.laughloungenyc.com/

Brooklyn tonight.

Don't miss this intimate free show hosted by Yannis Pappas, you never know who is going to drop by and tell jokes, also DITCH FILMS shorts, the last show was so fun and crazy and the people who were there know what i am talking about! don't miss it 8:30 PM

Yannis Pappas
Joey Gay
Brooke Van Poppelen
Magnus Betner (Sweden)
Joselyn Hughes
soul joel richardson
and others

come check it!

Bar 4 on 444 7th ave and 15th street (corner)

Working tonight.

Zinc Bar went well yesterday. Tried some new stuff about Obama and the economy that I'm gonna try to get on tape tonight. After my gig there I went over to Kabin on 2nd ave. and saw some of the best comedy I've seen during these 3 months. Sadly I am extremely bad with names... The only one I remember now i Sean Patton, who I will do a show with on april 2nd.

Yannis ended the show with a set packed with political stuff that I really enjoyed. You really don't get a lot of political stuff on the comedyscene here. If you do it's bound to be about race.

I have a gig tonight at 8 pm. Place is called Think Coffee and is located at 1 Bleecker Street (& Bowery) Be there!

Comedy 2 Go.

Yesterday we shot a Comedy 2 Go with Ditch Films. I think it's going to be awesome. The location was a killer!

I did maybe 20 minutes of my material on religion and they will edit that down to about 5-10 minutes i guess. They have done Comedy 2 Go with Jason Rouse, Mårten Andersson, Bill Burr, Donnell Rawlings and lots of others. Really looking forward to being a part of that. Check the entire series out.

I will probably post some more pictures from the shoot later. Both Helena and Jesse was snapping away so there should be loads of good pics. For now though, you will have to make do with my crappy cellphonepicture.

Tonight I'm at Zink Bar. I've said it before, but it is really one of the coolest rooms I've ever worked in. If you are in town, don't miss it.

Zinc Bar, recently re-located to 82 west 3rd st (between Sullivan and Thompson) is proud to announce that Comedy is finally back! Every Thursday Jordon Ferber hosts a different line up of some of the best comedy NYC has to offer.

Featuring:
Matt Maragno
Mike Gaffney
Magnus Betner
Jessica Kirson!

hosted by Jordon Ferber!

$8 cover, two drink minimum.

Clip from the Dungeon.

I had a good time at the Comedy Dungeon yesterday. Decent crowd who was really there for comedy and some swedes even showed up. Did like 12 minutes, mainly concentrating on improvising new stuff. Sound isn't great, but here is some of it:



Now I'm off to buy a bible. Doing a Comedy 2 Go with Ditch Films tomorrow and I need one for that. Really looking forward to it! Tonight, celebrating S:t Patricks Day at Building on Bond.

Comedy Dungeon tonight.

The first gig i did here in january was at a very cozy little place called The Comedy Dungeon. Tonight I'm going back there for another spot. It's a free show on upper westside so check it out if you in town.

The Comedy Dungeon Jazz on the Park Hostel
36 W 106th St (St between Central Park West and Manhattan Ave)

Show starts at 8.30 pm.

After that i might do another spot somewhere, but I have no details on that...

Filmed my gig at Shades, but most of what I did is already posted in other clips, so I won't post anything from there. Check out www.youtube.com/betner2 if you want to see all the old clips.

Comedy Cellar VS Wicked Monk

Thursday night we spent at The Comedy Cellar. One of the most recognised clubs in New York. I guess you could say that when you are a regular at the Cellar, you have in some sense made it. It should be a great show. Every night. It wasn't. Apart from James Smith, who was the first comic to hit the stage, none of them had done their homework. Apart from James, and the first 10 minutes of Judah Friedlander's set it was a really bad show although the room was almost packed.

Every single comedian took the stage and started talking to the audience. The same members of the audience. Same questions, same response. If you must talk to the audience, please, please, please look at the performers before you so we don't have to hear the same shit over and over again.

Wasn't much better when they started doing material either. The Octomom, planes landing on the Hudson River and the election was 3 very dated and booring subjects shared by almost all of the comedians. One of them even went in to his old Bush-jokes. Write new stuff! And if you don't write new stuff, at least don't do the same old stuff as all the others on the same night. I want my 12 bucks back.

Yesterday was another thing entirely. The Wicked Monk in Brooklyn is more like a scene from Fightclub than a comedyclub. The room is very narrow and long with some really, really drunk Irish people at the very end. They constantly heckled the comedians and basicly gave everybody a hard time. On top of that, the PA wasn't the best I've worked with. But still, it was so much more fun than the Comedy Cellar. To do 10 minutes in that room and get the audience to listen is a real challange. Some of us pulled it off and some didn't. To be honest, I don't know many that could. Yannis headlined and kept the audience in the palm of his hand for 40 minutes. Now, THAT is a pro.

So, if you ever get the choice between Comedy Cellar and the Wicked Monk, the choice should be fairly easy. At least if Yannis is headlining.

My set went well, so I'm really looking forward to tonight when I will do 20 minutes at Shades restaurant in Hoboken, NJ. Do not miss that if you are in New York today.

New dates in Stockholm, London and New York.

I just updated my calendar with gigs where I will do my stuff in english. Some in Stockholm and some in London, where I will spend a couple of days to do comedy in june. You will find a calendar at the bottom of this page where i post all my gigs in english.

Tonight I'm probably going to Comedy Cellar to watch some comedy at 11pm. Before that I might do an open mic, just to try and get the flow back before the gig in Hoboken on saturday.

The day will be spent trying to teach my voicerecognition software dirty words. Bought it yesterday and I think it will be a fantastic way to work, once I get it to dictate correctly. Just imagine being able to walk around the appartment just talking to the computer and get it all jotted down.

Shades on saturday.

I'm back in New York again! Really looking forward to my last 3 weeks here. They almost didn't let me through customs. Apparently I've been here too much lately.

Anyway, I'm gonna have a few slow days to get some rest after an intense week in Sweden, but on saturday I'm on stage again. If you are in New York, don't miss it. I'm doing a 20-minute set on the restaurant Shades in Hoboken, NJ.

It is gonna be a great show and here is where it's at:

Shades restaurant inside the monroe arts center.
720 monroe st hoboken, nj
Show starts at 9pm.
Doors open at 8.
10 dollar cover charge.

Also got news that I'm going to be in a great show on april 2nd. More about that one later.

Supporting Lewis Black.

Lewis Black is coming to Sweden for a gig at Göta Lejon on june 5th. I'm supporting him and I'm gonna do my stuff in english. Don't miss it!

Tickets to be released monday march 2nd at www.ticnet.se

It's gonna sell out fast so get your tickets early, or don't blame me when you didn't get any.

The last gig...

I think yesterday was my last gig in a couple of weeks. Going back to Sweden in two days and I don't think I will have time to do any spots before that. Need to write some stuff for Swedish TV that I should have done a week ago.

Anyway, I had a really great time yesterday. Tried a lot of new stuff and it felt really good. Thought I would post some of it, since i won't work in english for a couple of weeks. The sound isn't that great since the mic picked up the bar downstairs, but it think it's still better than some of the other crappy clips I posted, so I guess it's alright.

I'm back in New York on march 10th.

Limerick House tonight.

Did a gig yesterday at a restaurant in Queens. Wasn't a big audience, but it was a good show. I did almost only new stuff that i wrote yesterday and some improvisations that worked fine. Felt really good. Too bad I'm on my way home again just as I'm starting to feel comfortable...

Tonight I'm at Limerick House on 23d street at 8 pm. Yannis Pappas will be there and so will a lot of other guys. Check it out. The pic is of Yannis during his 50 minute set yesterday.

Clip from Bar four.

I wasn't gonna post any of this because of the poor quality of the image, but there was some sort of missunderstanding yesterday so I didn't get to go onstage and I don't have much booked before going back to Sweden for a couple of days so i might as well post some. The sound is good, but i don't know what happened to the camera.

Saw Donnell Rawlings again yesterday, if you get a chance to see him, take it. I think he is doing his mashup modays at Laugh Lounge for another month or so and I'm probably gonna be on it in march, but check it out regardless. He is great.

Not bombing at Bar 4.

Did another gig at Bar 4 in Brooklyn yesterday. I have to say it was one of my best so far. Unfortunately the camera didn't go a very good job in the dark so I'm not gonna post any of it.

Tonight I'm at Laugh Lounge again. Really looking forward to that. Was a great show last week and tonight shouldn't be any different. Adress in the calendar at the bottom of this page if you want to go. And you should.

Will try to get better film tonight so I can post something tomorrow.

Ehm...

I should be working. And I should be working hard. I'm not. I'm not doing comedy in New York. I'm not writing TV-stuff for Sweden that I need to do. Instead I went to Atlantic City again. I suck.

I just like the sound of pokerchips so much. And the complimentary drinks. I like those too. Anyway, going back to N.Y tomorrow. Interview with a Swedish magazine saturday and gigs both Sunday and Monday. Both of them should be great shows. Check details in the calendar at bottom of page.

RAW Comedy cruise.

I'm gonna be a part of the RAW Comedy Cruise on may 15th. It's a 24 hour cruise on a ship between Stockholm and Helsinki where some 30 comedians from Canada, USA, Sweden, Norway and the UK will be performing. I think I'm doing 3 sets and at least one of them is gonna be in english.

Tickets here.

Yesterday Donnell Rawlings put me onstage at the Laugh Lounge and i have to say that was one of the top shows I've seen since coming here. He did a lot of material and he was extremely funny. I didn't catch all the other comics, since I had some SMS-business that needed taking care of outside, but the ones i saw really killed. Rob Cantrell did a great set and Yannis Pappas did a fantastic one too. Mine wasn't all bad either. I'm slowly getting comfortable.

Now, dinner. Or is it lunch?

T-shirts.

Swedish t-shirtdesigners Beastwear has developed a few Betnér-designs. They are availible outside Sweden too!

To order, use these links:

Deer Hunter
Ready to Rumble
Babyface
And one in Swedish, with a pretty international picture...

My favourite:

Laugh Lounge.

Just letting you all know I'm at Laugh Lounge tonight at 8.30 doing a show hosted by Donnell Rawlings. Yannis Pappas and Ester Ku will be onstage as well.

Don't miss it!

Laugh Lounge
151 Essex Street (between Rivington and Stanton)

Zink Bar.

A great little jazzbar on West 3d street. The kind of place you might think of when you think of a small cozy club that has live music every night. Small wooden tables with 3 chairs around each so that everybody gets to see the stage. Red velvet backdrop and some instruments on stage. Top that of with a manager named Jean-Claude in a very stylish black and white checkered jacket and you have the Zink bar. Awsome place!

Jordon Ferber hosted the show and did it well. I was on first and i did a pretty good set. Tried some of the stuff about american presidents that I've been doing in Sweden. Worked like a charm... Here they seem to know who most of the presidents are... Looking forward to doing more of that.

Not today though... My cold is finally starting to get a little better. Think I'm gonna stay in bed today and tomorrow and then do some open mic on sunday. On monday i have a gig at the Laugh Lounge with Yannis.

I had another spot yesterday, but i didn't make it there in time... Maybe that was just as good. Gave me a chance to get some more sleep. Probably better in the long run to get rid of this cold.

2 gigs tonight.

Just got back from Atlantic City and went to CVS to stock up on some of the american superdrugs against cold that Swedish authorities wouldnt allow in a million years. Lets hope it helps. If not, I'm gonna have to go see a doctor soon.

Anyway, tonight I'm at Zinkbar at 8 and after that I'm gonna rush over to Limerick House on 23d street to do a spot there as well. Think I'm gonna try to do a long bit that I haven't done in english before.

Zinc Bar, recently re-located to 82 west 3rd st (between Sullivan and Thompson) is proud to announce that Comedy is finally back!
Every Thursday Jordon Ferber hosts a different line up of some of the best comedy NYC has to offer!



This week's Lineup:

Rondell Hartley
Magnus Betner
Jessica Kirson!
hosted by Jordon Ferber!

$8 cover, 2 drink minimum

Now I'm gonna have a look at the first cut of my next comedyspecial for Swedish TV. and sip some Theraflu. Exciting.

Somebody liked it...

We really did have a great show last thursday at Building on Bond althuough I didn't think it was my very best set so far. Here is a blog that liked the show too. Thank you very much.

I'm staying at the Borgata in Atlantic City and that has to be the shittiest hotel in the world in this pricerange. No minibar. Not even a bottle of water. Noisy rooms. You can hear your neighbours every thrust against the headboard. Bad service. Constant ID-checks in the casino...

BUT I'm lazy, so I'm staying one more night. They couldn't sort that out on the phone either... I have to go down to the front desk to do it. Not that it's a big deal... It's just that it's the first time. Even in Teheran they fix another night by phone. Probably some ancient statelaw that prohibits service over the phone in New Jersey. Going down to sort it out now and after that, some more poker.

Atlantic City.

Felt like playing some poker so i went to Atlantic City for a couple of days. It's really nice here. Can't compare to Vegas of course, but compared to Swedish cardrooms everyting is fantastic.

They constantly check my ID and i normally don't carry around my passport because its too bulky. Guess what... I can't play roulette with my Swedish driverslicence. I can use it when i drive a car. I can use it when i drink alcohol. But I can't use it to gamble with my own money... Now THAT is a lot like Sweden.

Good gig!

Times Square Comedy Club is a huge club, fomerly known as The laugh factory. We were in one of the smaller rooms. Maybe 50-60 seats or so. The show was good. Some really good comedians and a really good room. I did 7 minutes mainly consisting of stuff I have tried before and it was one of my best sets so far. The flow of the language is slowly starting to get there.

The quality of the comedians varies a lot here. Just like at home. One big difference is how simmilar the topics they choose are. Once you leave the rookie-stage in Sweden you don't see that many comedians talk about the exact same things. Here i have seen at least 7 different comedians doing a routine about the voice in the cars GPS. The next one who does it i want to shoot in the face.

Times Square Comedy Club.

Just letting you know I have a spot at Times Square Comedy Club tonight. I'm only doing 5 minutes, but if you want to check it out you find it at 669 8th avenue. Between 42nd and 43d.

Freezing!

I was really, really tired yesterday and It was not one of my best gigs. It wasn's one of my worst either though and i tried some new stuff that I have been wanting to do but never gave myself a chance to try.

The room was packed and the other comics were great, so apart from the fact that i was so tired I could barely sit straight, it was a great night.

Going to do an interview for Swedish Comedy TV now and after that i have no plans. Don´t think I'm gonna be on stage tonight, but you never know.

Haven't had a chance to see the material from yesterday, but i have it on tape so i might post some of it later.

Gig tonight!

It´s really, really great to be back in New York again! I had a great time doing the big shows in Sweden and recording the last two, but my mind was partly in New York. Now, my body is here aswell. Too bad Helena didn´t come with me this time... Gonna be lonely.

I just got back to the appartment to get a few hours of sleep before the gig tonight. It´s at 8.30 and the place is called Building on Bond. Here are details and directions. I'm off to bed.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=60131665820

Going home...

I have to go to Sweden for a couple of days to do some work. It's time to finish the last leg of my tour with 11 gigs in Sweden. The last two is gonna be filmed for a special, so it's gonna be busy days.

I've had a great couple of weeks and met a lot of great people. Big thanks to Yannis and Amy who have been taking such good care of us. I really wouldn't want to leave yet if it wasn't for my daughter Lina. I miss her like crazy.

I'm soon back again, and I will keep you posted if anything happens regarding my standup in english.

I bombed yesterday.

My last gig yesterday. It got pretty late before we took the stage and while we waited, we drank. I can't say i was on top of things when i took the stage, but I was having fun. All of a sudden i jumped at some guy who didn't even say something to me. (Sorry about that) You could say that turned the audience against me a little, but who am I to keep a clip of me bombing in english from you guys?

Guess you could say i dropped the ball and never really managed to pick it up. Was a great room and a great night though... Bar Four is a really nice place. Next time I'm gonna try to keep the crowd on my side too.

Eastville Comedy Club.

I warmed up with 10 minutes at Parkside Lounge that worked fine. There was an open mic before the show i was gonna be in, so we kind of kidnapped their audience and got us a good one. After that I was in a really good mood and went to meet up with the others.

It was really nice to be back at Eastville Comedy Club. It's a really nice room and I like the midnightshows a lot. I tried some stuff that i did in Sweden a while back and I also improvised a little and tried some new stuff. I'm slowly getting there. Long, long way to go untill I'm as comfortable doing it in english as I am doing it in Swedish, but I'm getting there. Slowly.

Here is a part of the set i did at Eastville:

Birds...

Somehow the dates got mixed up yesterday, so the Raving Lunatics show is actually tonight. Ended up doing another show at the same place instead. Sorry about the poor quality of this clip, but i really wanted to post it while it's topical. Can't do it today, since New York Post almost proved me right this morning.

Tonight I'm at Parkside Lounge at 9 pm. And then at Eastville Comedy Club at midnight.

Raving lunatics.

Is the name of the club where I'm working tonight. Show starts at 9 so i have plenty of time to write some new stuff before that. If i get it done in time I'm gonna go to one of the open mics at 6 to try it out.

Open mics are a horrible experience, but it's a fantastic opportunity for comics to just get up there and try some new stuff. Sure, you pay to get on. Sure, the only audience you usually get are other comics thinking only of their own act... But still. It's a great thing to be able to get on whenever you want. Wish we had those in Sweden too. Gonna talk to some clubowners when i get home...

Relaxing today.

I ended up not working yesterday, instead I went to a small room called Haiku and enjoyed a nice show with a couple of really good sets and a couple of not so good sets. Today I've been having a hard time getting anything at all done. Ended up watching Comedy Central's roast of Bog Saget. Some truly fantastic stuff on that. Gonna be hard to compete with when we do a series of roasts for Swedish TV in a little over a month.

I only have two more booked spots left before i have to go back to Sweden for some work (gotta do some paid work too from time to time) saturday I do another midnightshow at Eastville Comedy Club and Sunday I'm in Brooklyn. I might do something tomorrow and monday as well, but nothing booked, so it's gonna be open mics in that case. Tuesday it's time for Danko Jones who is in town and on wednesday we head for sweden and almost two weeks of work before we go back here on the 5th of february again.

Carolines.

I was nervous as hell yesterday. I really don't know why, but i was. Sweating and shaking. Normally don't get like that, even on the rare occasions i do get nervous, so it was tough. Carolines is a great club. Room wasn't packed, but it was a good crowd and a lot of good comedy as well. I wasn't feeling well, so I left after my set. Would have liked to stay for all of it, but my body wasn't up for it. I have another chance to catch the headliner, Colin Kane, when we work together at Village Lantern in a couple of weeks.

My set was mainly concentrated on God, and here is some of it:





I have a gig tonight as well. Don't know where and when yet, but i will keep you posted.

I messed up.

Not the gig, but the recording of it. Sorry guys I'm gonna try to get better at getting my stuff on tape. New try tonight when I'm at Carolines for a 15-minutespot.

The show yesterday was interesting. Lot of good comedians and some really hard and political stuff of the kind i like. Jena Friedman hosted in and she had some really, really good stuff. Tough. Check her out if you get a chance. Yannis did a great bit about how politics is finally racially integrated that i really enjoyed a lot.

Me? I tried a couple of new things that worked out fine. Did a pretty short set, so nothing to write home about.

Well, as i said, tonight I'm on stage @ Carolines. Address and ticket info in the calendar at the bottom of the page.

Sound Fix tonight!

Tonight at 8.30 me, Yannis and a bunch of other people have a gig at Sound Fix. It's a very nice little club in Brooklyn. Don't miss it.

Going out now to see if I can catch Soran and David for lunch before they head back for Sweden. After that i have some writing to do. If I get some new stuff down I think I will go to Eastville for their open mic at 6 pm. I should be able to do that and still make it to Brooklyn in time.

But either way, the gig at Sound Fix is one that i have been looking forward to. Don't miss it if you are in New York. Adress to the club in the calendar at the bottom of this page.

Fantastic open mic.

As I said i had some new stuff i wanted to try before the midnightgig at Eastville (wich was good gig) so I went down to Comedy Corner and paid my 5 bucks for 5 minutes of stagetime. The only audience at most open mics are other comics, who also pay to get stagetime and the crowds are usually tiny. Yesterday was no exception to this.

Soran and David came down too and we sat through the entire thing. Most of the comedy we saw was pretty horrible, but there was some good stuff too. I was on like 4th or 5th and really only wanted to try the new stuff.

After I was done the hostess went onstage and said something like this:

"I am a republican and America is a zionist country. Have you ever had rockets rain down on your house? You can't do that material here. Maybe in Sweden you can, but not here."

To that i replied:

"Thats why I'm doing it here. That's what comedy is all about."

She came back with:

"Well, it helps if it's funny"

Those of you who know me, know that i don't care too much about being funny.... But anyway, here is what i did. Enjoy:





After that, Soran took the stage and apparently had a very good time at my expense. Not that i agree about the Richard Pryor thing, but it sure was a gig to remember and I'm glad Soran and David was there to share it with me.





I did tape the gig at Eastville too, but somebody got in the way of the camera and the audio wasn't that good, so I won't post it. Gig at Sound Fix tomorrow night. I will post that.

Eastville Comedy Club tonight.

At 12. Before that, dinner and an open mic. Gonna go down to Comedy Corner close to here and try out some new stuff i wrote about Gaza today. It's probably gonna be horrible. Open mics usually are... Starts at 5.30.

Really looking forward to the gig tonight though. Midnightgig. Have no idea what to expect. Will the audience be drunk, tired, both or none? Will I be?

No gig tonight.

The gig at Eastville tonight got cancelled for some reason. Tomorrow is still on though, so don´t miss it. Yannis will be there aswell.

Spent the day hanging out with Soran and David. It's like being on vacation with Chip 'n Dale. They wanted to go to Harlem, so we did. But only after they emptied their pockets in their hotell. They didn't wanna get robbed... Those two are the cutest. It was a pretty booring fieldtrip to the northern parts of town and it's cold as shit today, so I couldn't make them walk back no matter how hard i tried.

Yesterday ended with a lot of beer, booze and good company. Tonight we are going to see Louis CK, if we can get tickets. Tomorrow is workday.

No internet.

I've spent like 10 hours trying to get internet in the appartment. Not that big of a deal since I can still use that friendly neighbours, but I'd rather have my own connection that I am paying for... Well, I still don't. Maybe tomorrow. That's what they said yesterday too.

After another 2 hours with a guy in the appartment trying to fix it to no avail I'm going out. I think I'm gonna get a tattoo today. I also might go to an open mic, but now I really don't feel the need to since I already have gigs like every other day.

Just got one at Soundfix on monday. Looking forward to going back there. My last gig there was filmed for swedish television. It's posted in the top left of this blog aswell. The guy introducing me in that clip is Yannis Pappas. Great guy. Check him out if you get a chance.

Gig #2

If the room on gig no 1 was small, the room yesterday was ultrasmall. And lovely. I did lots of gigs in tiny, tiny rooms when i went to london a few years back. The big difference here is that all the comics yesterday were good.

Sodomising a cockroach with a toothpick. That line made my entire night. Thanks Yannis.

My set went well actually. I'm slowly beginning to feel comfortable speeking english on stage. A few more spots and I think it's gonna feel fine. Not there yet though. I did 15 minutes (sorry for staying up there to long) with a good mix of translated and new stuff. Now I'm gonna go for a beer and do some more writing. Probably not working tonight, but i might go to an open mic just to keep the momentum. Updated the calendar with a few more gigs. Midnight gigs this friday and saturday. That should be fun.

Gig tonight.

I have a gig tonight aswell. 8 pm at Abigail Café in Brooklyn. After that i might have another spot aswell but i don't think I will be able to post that since my internet is down. On top of that my phone stopped working... Gonna try and get everything fixed tomorrow, but for now i have to concentrate on what to do tonight.

First gig done.

Just as my dinner arrived yesterday I got a message from Yannis to be at The Comedy Dungeon at 8.30 so thats what i did. It was a very small place in the basement of a hostel and not very many people at all. I just love those gigs.

Yannis did 10 minutes and tried some new stuff and after that i did 10 aswell. Tried some newly written and translated some on the spot. Worked out ok although my english is very rusty at the moment. A few more spots and i think i will be fine.

Now it's time to do the landry, and by do I mean go leave it somewhere where somebody else will do it for me. There are hundreds of those places around here. After that I gotta sort out our internetconnection. It's not working so I'm using a friendly neighbours. A friendly neighbour who doesn't know that, of course.

Probably gonna do an open mic tonight but that depends on how long this internetbusiness is gonna take.

To work or not to work.

Just got an e-mail from Yannis Pappas who has been helping me find some spots here. He had one tonight. Only problem is I was out when the e-mail came and now I can't get a hold of him. So either I'm gonna work. Don't know where, don't know when. Or i will just go watch some comedy and have a few beers.

Soran Ismail and David Druid from Sweden is in town so i think i will hook up with them and go the Comedy Cellar if I'm not working. Tomorrow I'm gonna go to some open mic just to get some stagetime. Been working on a 7-minute set today that i think is gonna work. If i even know how to do 7 minutes. Haven't done that in years. And I haven't done any comedy for weeks. It doesn't feel good right now, but i think it will once i get back in the saddle again.

Arrived in NYC

Yesterday we arrived in New York and moved in to the very small appartment on Morton street that will be our home for 3 months. I have to get to work now. That is not easy after a totally relaxing and very decadent week in Las Vegas. Honestly, I don't want to work right now. It feels like I'm never gonna want to work again. But... I said I was going to do this and that means i will.

My first 15 minutespot is a week away so I have some time to work on some material and try to get a few more spots in before that. There are lots of open mics in town so it shouldn't be a problem to get some stagetime... I think.

At the moment I have five 15-minutespots booked and I will try to get some more, on top of the open mics. I will post info about all my upcoming gigs here so that anyone interested can come watch me bomb in english.

I'm not really sure what material I'm gonna be doing, but i guess it will be a mix of translated old stuff that i tried in Sweden, maybe some of the stuff i have tried in London and newly written routines. Gonna start working tomorrow. This blogpost will do for now.